To say that Michael Winterbottom tried to be "different" with Code 46 might be an understatement, but he's always experimenting from film to film (i.e. 24 hour party people, 9 Songs, Tristram Shandy, Road to Guantanamo), so it's almost expectable he'd take a stab at some intellectual sci-fi. The comparisons to other sources and art-house fare could be made- Wong Kar Wai with some of the hand-held style and narration (albeit nowhere near as convincing as WKW's style for the latter), Alphaville &/or Solaris as points of reference for how to make an ordinary post-modern city leap way into the future with specific cinematographic flourishes, and some Orwell for good measure- and at the end of it all it's a happy note to report that it is a somewhat original piece of work.
That it isn't very masterful is another. Or that it's really absorbing with much of its promise. The title of the film refers to one of the many codes in this future society, where-in there are specific guidelines regarding incest, and the bans on relationships and/or procreation involved therein. As it turns out, a relationship unfolds in the film between an "inside" world detective with psychic abilities (Robbins) and an "outside" world worker who keeps having the sort of same dream every birthday (Morton). There's some intriguing ground to mine here, and I was hoping with the actors game for whatever that Winterbottom could hit it out of the park. This isn't really the case.
It's a strange movie, and even with things under the surface as it is a creepy one. But it's got such a laconic pace, such a current of avant-garde restlessness that we never get to know much about these characters more than just the little things specific to their natures (i.e. Robbins's withdrawn state and Morton only a little more-so). I wouldn't even go far as to call it dull as it's just trying to go for something else that doesn't entirely click. It's perhaps a combination of things in the style; there are some spectacular visions put up from the Shanghai city-scapes and vistas of the deserts, but we only see them for so long before Winterbottom's editor cuts away, too rapidly; the music by Free Association beats down on scenes that could do better with quiet or a softer, less oppressive tone; the narration, again, is mostly filler.
Is it worth watching? Mostly if you're looking for a little twist in your science fiction cinema soup, or for some crazy derivative of 1984 that takes things much more into the realm of the sexual perverseness as opposed to merely political Big Brother issues (though there is, of course, some Big Brother in this landscape). It's the kind of work that should be even greater, or stir up the senses to the ideas, but just as it invites some thought it pulls away or moves to something else in its short running time. Only a bizarre cameo from Mick Jones in a bar singing a classic Clash song brings out a real shocker to the senses (that and maybe a moment of the graphic sexuality). 6.5/10
That it isn't very masterful is another. Or that it's really absorbing with much of its promise. The title of the film refers to one of the many codes in this future society, where-in there are specific guidelines regarding incest, and the bans on relationships and/or procreation involved therein. As it turns out, a relationship unfolds in the film between an "inside" world detective with psychic abilities (Robbins) and an "outside" world worker who keeps having the sort of same dream every birthday (Morton). There's some intriguing ground to mine here, and I was hoping with the actors game for whatever that Winterbottom could hit it out of the park. This isn't really the case.
It's a strange movie, and even with things under the surface as it is a creepy one. But it's got such a laconic pace, such a current of avant-garde restlessness that we never get to know much about these characters more than just the little things specific to their natures (i.e. Robbins's withdrawn state and Morton only a little more-so). I wouldn't even go far as to call it dull as it's just trying to go for something else that doesn't entirely click. It's perhaps a combination of things in the style; there are some spectacular visions put up from the Shanghai city-scapes and vistas of the deserts, but we only see them for so long before Winterbottom's editor cuts away, too rapidly; the music by Free Association beats down on scenes that could do better with quiet or a softer, less oppressive tone; the narration, again, is mostly filler.
Is it worth watching? Mostly if you're looking for a little twist in your science fiction cinema soup, or for some crazy derivative of 1984 that takes things much more into the realm of the sexual perverseness as opposed to merely political Big Brother issues (though there is, of course, some Big Brother in this landscape). It's the kind of work that should be even greater, or stir up the senses to the ideas, but just as it invites some thought it pulls away or moves to something else in its short running time. Only a bizarre cameo from Mick Jones in a bar singing a classic Clash song brings out a real shocker to the senses (that and maybe a moment of the graphic sexuality). 6.5/10